Cognitive Resources: How Less Can Be More

Many models of rational inference view the mind as if it were a supernatural being possessing demonic powers of reason, boundless knowledge, and all of eternity for making decisions. In reality, humans act under limited time, knowledge, and computational power.Across various cognitive research programs, the premise that human information-processing capacity is limited often goes hand in hand with the belief that these limitations are nothing but a liability.They are suspected of being the culprit behind reasoning lapses and of barring us from achieving the feats of a supercomputer. I will challenge the seemingly obligatory link between cognitive limitations and cognitive failure, demonstrating that aspects of the human mind such as limited short-term memory, forgetting, and limited knowledge can give rise to good decisions.